


Not Your future UNFINISHED

by orphan_account



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: (?), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alzheimer's Disease, Angst, Dad Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Jesse owns a bar, Multi, Reunions, Tags to be added, flustered Jesse, hanzo is rich, long update schedule, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-01-08 00:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12243570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Jesse has been alone for almost twenty years. The only one that is willing to take care of his ailing father. When Hanzo comes back into his life, will they rekindle their relationship or will they find that it was only puppy-love.UNFINISHED





	1. Some Nights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! welcome to the last part of the not yours universe series, you do not have to read the previous parts to understand this one, BUT I would appreciate it if you did!

Jesse sat at the rear of the semi-crowded bar, nursing his glass of whiskey on the rocks.  The sound of the people buzzing around him was similar to the current buzz in his head. no one sat by him as he drank, but as a few people passed familiarities as they walked by. Most all of the booths and tables were filled, and a good chunk of the rich oak bar was also filled with customers. The mood of the bar was calm, but not somber by any means. it was just the place to get drinks with friends, not get smashed and vomit allover everything (not that’s not happened before).

Jesse nearly jumped out of his skin when the plate of nachos was placed in front of him with a clatter. Sombra stood there trying to hold back laughter at Jesse’s shocked face, and says sarcastically. “you can’t live on booze alone, no matter how hard you try”

Jesse grumbles and looks at the plate suspiciously “I ain’t payin’ for this”

“no I am idiota” Sombra says “you just need to go tell those guys at table fifteen to hit the road and quit harassing the girls”

“Som’ do it yourself” Jesse grumbles “it’s my day off”

Sombra looks at Jesse now and leans in slightly. Her usual suaveness and relaxed demur pushed aside and says “look they slapped one Mei’s butt, and they aren’t listening to me. So please Jesse take care of them?”

Jesse sighed and looked at the plate of fully-loaded nachos before him; _man, those people must have really pissed Sombra off_.  Jesse sighs in defeat; making Sombra grin like the Cheshire cat. He slides out of his set and shoves a handful of the cheesy goodness into his face as he walks away.

Jesse saunters over to table fifteen, making sure to cross his arms over his chest and to look as big and though he can get. Again, some other regulars and people from the community stopped him and said hi as he walked over, but he was on a mission

There were three people at the table laughing and hollering at each other. The tree were obviously form the local collage, sporting merch like it was game day. The youngest looking just within the legal drinking age, and the oldest looked only a few months older than that. Two of the three were chanting chug like they were in a frat house, and the third was downing a mystery cocktail of whatever was placed on the table combined into a glass. Jesse held back the need to gag as he approached.

Jesse waited for the table to calm down somewhat (and for the “chugger” to stop chugging) to say, “okay boys it’s time to go home”

The three immediately turn their heads to look at the intruder. One of them (probably their leader) sneers at Jesse and obviously sizes him up.

“no, I think we’ll stay” the oldest of the three says. Jesse doesn’t budge, just raises an eyebrow so the kid continues “I don’t want any trouble buddy, were just having some fun, okay?”

“no that is not okay,” Jesse says flatly “not when yer harassing some of my staff. Now beat it before I have to carry your drunk asses out of here”

The two lackeys glance nervously at their leader. who now stands up and tries to look tough “I’d like to see you try old man”

“you really want this?” Jesse asks keeping his cool. Jesse gestures to a nearby picture frame of him standing next to the well-known detective Gabriel Reyes, both of them are carrying large pieces of furniture into the bar. After Jesse gives them a moment to look at the picture he continues “just leave now kid, before you do something you’ll regret”

The leader seemed to take offence at this and lunged at Jesse. Who, just steps to the side and lets the inebriated man fall flat on the ground. Jesse just rolls his eyes and picks the other up like a sack of potatoes. The man screamed and kicked, getting the attention of everyone in the bar that wasn’t already starring at the show in front of them.  the other two trouble makers are also just staring as their fearless leader is carried out of the bar like he weights nothing.

The cold night air is a vast shift from the stuffy heat of the bar, but the pleasant weather does little to distract from the wining and swearing of the man that Jesse in currently careening. Jesse dumps him on the sidewalk unceremoniously making the kid grunt as he lands on the ground. The kid looks flabbergasted and almost frightened at the same time. he tries to scramble backwards but Jesse grabs him by the shirt collar before he ends up on the street.

“I dint do anything man!” the man cries “don’t beat me up for hav’in fun!”

“I just did what I said I would do” Jesse says flatly, obviously fished with the situation “and I said I would carry your sorry butt out of the bar and I did, now scram.”

The man does just that, nearly falling flat on his face while doing so. His friends are standing in the doorway just starring at Jesse dumbfounded. Jesse just gestures at them as to say, “you too” and they take off.

Jesse debates weather to take a smoke break while outside, but decides to go back in while his nachos were still warm. Back inside everything has gone back to normal, regulars drinking and locals mingling, the bar is filled soft chatter.

Making his way back to his seat Jesse sees that almost half of his nachos are now missing and Sombra had materialized her laptop. She was pounding away at the keyboard, obviously deep in thought. Jesse saunters up to her and puts his hand on her shoulder and says “what ‘ya doing”

Its Sombra’s turn to jump this time; she then turns and says, “ruining those guys’ lives.”  
            Jesse looks over Sombra’s shoulder and can’t help but chuckle slightly. Presumably Som’ had just sent a video to the guys’ mothers, grandmothers and significant others of them harassing the waitresses and being humiliated by Jesse. Jesse just chuckles and tussles Sombra’s hair. This thing was not unual at the bar collage kids trying to turn Tallon into a party seen, but Gabe didn’t want it that way and so it is not.

Jesse heads behind the bar and made a half-shot rum and coke for himself, as reward. He punches his drink in to the POI then heads back to his seat when someone stops him.

“that was a nice thing you did” a man says, Jesse doesn’t recognize the man, and boy would he if he did. It was the most beautiful man he had ever seen; the man’s hair was pulled into a lose ponytail and he wore a spiked leather jacket. His multiple dark piercings gleamed under the lowlighting. The slightest amount of rosiness dusted his cheeks and his speech was ever so slightly slurred.

“gotta keep my staff safe” Jesse says and shrugs “thank you though”

“you like-” the man cut himself off with a hiccup. The man gestures to Jesse’s drink as he says this “rum. I like sake m’self”

the man looks at his glass with slight discuss and sadness “but you didn’t have it, so one of your waitresses gave me this. ‘s good but not sake”

Jesse chucks and makes a mental note to up the price of their daiquiris “like the pink pineapple?”

The man nods vigorously “s’ good n’ sweet”

“glad to hear it” Jesse says, “tell you what, if you agree that that’s your last one, I’ll have sake next time you come in okay?”

the man looks like this is the hardest decision he had ever made when he finally says, “sounds good”

Jesse nods and holds out his hand and the man shakes it happily. As Jesse makes his way back to his seat he tells the bartender to cut the guy off, and call him a cab. The rest of the night goes without incident, and the friendly (very attractive) man leaves with booze filled smile.

Jesse is going over the schedule the next day. He sits in one of the back booths doing his work. A few regulars sit in booths and at tables starting to drown their sorrows at noon. Jesse cross-references his own work schedule with the bar’s; making sure not to double book himself again. He hears the doorbell chime as someone walks in. he doesn’t give it a second thought until there is someone standing over him.

Jesse looks up to see the nice man from the day before. the man is obviously hungover and trying to hide it; he shuffles uncomfortably and look like he wants to say something. Jesse raises his hand to stop the other from talking. He then stands and heads behind the bar and pulls out a bottle smiling. The strainger looks even more embarrassed then before covering his beat-red face.

“told ya I’d have one next time you came” Jesse says from behind the bar

“I thought you lied about that, just to get me to stop drinking” the man says.

“naw I wouldn’t like about something like that. Just found the best way to cut someone off is to promise future booze.”

            the bar didn’t have sake glasses nor a heater, so Jesse served it up room temperature with a shot glass.  The man sat at the same seat as the night before as Jesse poured two glasses. Jesse sat the drinks he says, “don’t recognize you, new to town?”

“you can say that.” The man says visibly uncomfortable “I am looking for someone, actually, two people”

            Jesse nods and says, “well I just about know everyone in town and the people I don’t know aren’t worth knowing”

            The man gives Jesse a suspicious look, as Jesse laughs at his own joke, but says “I am looking for my brother. he has been living with a couple of monks in a local library. I do not remember the name of the library but he said that I can ask around”

            Jesse beams at this “yea I know the place, it’s just down two blocks in the ally, it’s easy to miss, but you’ll never forget it when you go in. don’t know the men personally but the guys that run the place is said to be some of the nicest men you could meet.”

            The stranger seems to lighten up at this, but stiffens when he starts talking about the second person “he is someone I only knew for a year, I un… we were… hisnameisJesse”

            The last words almost came out too fast to understand and the man’s cheeks redden deeply. Jesse beams at this “are you looking for McCree or Reyes”

            The man furrows his brow “I think Reyes… tell him uh.. Hanzo is looking for him. I do not know if he’ll want to talk to me after all these years”

            It takes all of Jesse’s self-control not to jump over the bar and tackle Hanzo to the ground. Instead he just stiffens and stares at his old friend.

            “damn you got hot” he says without thinking. Hanzo just stairs at Jesse flabbergasted at the comment and Jesse backtracks “I-I mean not that you weren’t before, damn, I mean you still did. I-I let me start over. Hi Hanzo, it’s me Jesse!”

            Jesse outstretches his hand awkwardly and smiles painfully and Hanzo just looks at Jesse wide eyed as Jesse wants to jump off of a cliff. They stay like this for longer than either one is comfortable with. Both parties are just looking at each other trying to find the right words The Hanzo finally says “it really is you…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the first installment in the last part of the Not Yours Universe. thank you so much for reeding, and I can't wait to show you how this story will end, but just a warning: I'm going to tell you now that I do not know when I'll have the time to update, I'm currently going to school full-time and that takes priority. I'm also working on original works so I might be posting that at some point if any of you would want to see that. so yea.... thanks again for the kudos and comments on the previous parts of this series they all mean the world to me!  
> EDIT: cleaned things up and added a little detail


	2. Car Radio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse and hanzo go through their day with their newly found knowledge of each other. they need to think about it and find out some other things along the way.

Hanzo could not believe it, it really was Jesse McCree. He still had the same southern drawl, he still laughed at his own shitty jokes, he was still just as laid back and easy going.  it was _Jesse_.

The two talked and talked, they talked about what happened over the past seventeen years they talked about nothing and everything over hours. They stay on happy subjects talking about the bar and how Jesse found himself owning such a place. Jesse told him that Gabe gave it to him after he was unable to take care of it. He told Hanzo about how Sombra took care of books and the bars online image, but Jesse found himself taking care of everything else.

Hanzo talked about his time at the head of the Shimada empire, how Genji recently reached out to him. How the he recently steped down as the head but still made mony from investments, and till worked with some ‘smaller’ clientele.  He also talked about getting his masters in business in just three years while he worked under his father.

“what are you still doing here?” a woman with purple highlights calls form the back door “Jesse, its five twenty?”

Jesse bolts upright and swears loudly. He pulls out his phone and desperately pounds at his screen “shit sorry Hanzo, I need to go, uh… I'm free Tuesday we can finsh catching up then okay? Meet you here, and we can figure things out from there okay?”

Hanzo nods and gives a slight smile as Jesse heads out the door.

The woman saunters up to the table that Jesse was previously sitting and working. She picks up the large timekeeping book and scans over the pages. She pinches her forehead and sighs annoyed, before changing some of the marks.

Hanzo contemplates leaving or staying for another drink, the light buzz in his head was quickly leaving him but he did not want to embarrass himself again.  He is quickly brought out of this thought when the purple-haired woman stands in front of him behind the bar. She was staring daggers into him making Hanzo somewhat uncomfortable, and her frown deepened when Hanzo glances up. Hanzo sees her nametag and is somewhat surprised to find that it was Sombra, Jesse’s younger sister.

“you have quite the set of balls coming back here” Sombra says flatly “you know how much you ruined Jesse when you left?”  
“well I-” Hanzo tried to defend himself before getting cut off.

“don’t interrupt me bastard, I’m talking” Sombra snaps “he loved you and you just left, and didn’t talk to him for all these years? You didn’t talk to him at all, after you left! You crushed him, he dropped out of school because of you, and now he’s stuck here, no chance of a future because you refused to return his calls, or send him a curtesy text. So, do us all a favor and say good bye on Tuesday before you have time to hurt him again.”

Sombra turned on her heel not giving Hanzo any time to explain himself.  His thoughts were racing a thousand miles a minute. _What did she mean by ruined himself, he seems fine to me?_ Hanzo thinks.

Jesse walks to his truck (a red ford that he keeps running himself) his thoughts race and he can’t seem to get his smile to leave. He smiles through his maniger yelling at him for being late, he smiles through his heavy work, loading and unloading trucks. The thought of Hanzo being back makes him wat to jump for joy, and he is seeing him on Tuesday. Jesse feels like he’s back in high school again, with how giddy he feels.

On his way home, Jesse’s phone buzzes and his heart drops when he sees who it’s from. He tentatively swipes to answer the call.

“hello.” Jesse says hoping to anything that they called him on accident.

“Jesse!” a voice cheers from the other end

“hi dad,” Jesse sighs into the receiver “did one of the nurses call for you?”

“no, and I don’t need help calling my son” Gabriel says on the other line.

“do you need anything dad?” Jesse asks

“you need to get me out of this place is what you need to do!” Gabe almost yells into the phone

“we talked about this, I need you to stay there while I work things out at home okay?” Jesse says calmly.

“no! listen to me solder, I need you to come and pick me up!” Jesse wants to cry when he hears the desperation in his father’s voice and responds “dad i-“

“who the hell are you calling dad ingrate!” Gabe yells into the phone “I am your CO and I need e vac now!”

 suddenly there is a large rustle on the other line, fallowed by ineligible yelling. Jesse could almost see it in his head, and the thought more then broke his heart. It was a good three minutes before the shuffeling settled down. Finally, somone picked up the phone on the other side.

“hello?” a familiar young voice picks up on the other side.

“m’ still here” Jesse says calmly

“I'm so sorry! We didn’t see him get out of his room and he somehow shorted the detectors in his room.” The voice apologies

“s’okay it’s probably my fault for not calling him sooner” Jesse says while pulling into his apartment complex “is he okay?”

there was a long pause on the other line “he got violent again, we had to sedate Mr. Reyes to get him back to bed. I'm sorry I know this is hard on you more than anyone. I know you’re doing the best you Mr. McCree, and I can report the bed as a short or something but we can’t have this happen again. maybe you should start looking for another home; Somewhere more specialized to your father’s needs”

“okay, thank you.” Is all Jesse is able to get out before hanging up. He sits in his car for a while numb to the world. His thoughts race, and his mind goes through his codex of who to call, to get things sorted out. It’s going on two thirty buy the time he feels human enough to leave his car. He spends the next three hours up searching the internet hoping to find some sort of answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. like I said, school take creative priority right now; hopefully I will be able to get the next chapter out quicker then the it took to get this one out, but no promises.


	3. Somethin’ Stupid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse and hanzo go out for coffee and talk about what this means between the two of them.

Due to it being the middle of the week, Talon barely had any patrons. It was a calm rainy fall day outside, and some of the people coming in were merely escaping from the drizzling rain. only a few paying customers were regulars drowning their sorrows, and middle-aged soccer moms out with friends. Mei and Jane were waiting tables, and the newest bartender, Gavin, joked and talked with the customers.

Jesse looks nervously between his phone and the front door. Hanzo didn’t say _when_ he was coming over, or if he decided not to come or maybe he forgot. Jesse’s mind raced, he tried to push his anxiety aside but the thought of being stood up again made him want to through up.  He ran his hands through his hair trying to straiten the tangles and curls somewhat, and was a nerves tick at the same time. 

When the door finally opened showing Hanzo tucked deeply into his leather jacket hair wet from the rain and looking slightly like a wet dog, Jesse felt his heart heap. Jesse stood quickly; ignoring the pain that shot through his knees as he got up. Hanzo gave a slight smile as Jesse approached.

They stand there awkward for a moment, both not knowing quite what to say but also just drinking the whole situation in.  They both found themselves flushed when one of the patrons asked them to move so that they could get through the front door. They both laughed nervously as they stood aside, letting the stranger through.

“so… ya like coffee?” Jesse asks like a teenager

“I prefer tea,” Hanzo says almost as a reaction, but seeing Jesse deflate slightly “but coffee is fine.”

Jesse perks up at this slightly at the answer and starts to lead Hanzo to their destination.  Hanzo and Jesse walk down three blocks until coming to a coffee shop. It looked nice enough with striped green and white awning. By the door hung a florescent sign of a coffee cup and the word ‘open’ buzzed away. The specials were taped to the front door on simple printer paper along with a ‘help wanted’ sign.

The smell of coffee was intoxicating as they entered. The place was named well the inside felt like a cabin; with plaid couches, leather lounge chairs, and taxidermy adorning the walls (a black bear, a coyote, and a few mounted deer heads). it was homie and warm while being slightly tacky at the same time.

Jesse ordered a ‘Grizzly Grog’, the description gave Hanzo a toothache just looking at it, while he just went with a simple steeped tea. The two sit at one of the booths in the back. there are other costumers in the shop but no one seems to pay the two any mind as they find their seats.

“I can see why you like this place” Hanzo says while looking at the tacky décor. Jesse just chucklesslightly.

“only place in town that ain’t a chain” Jesse says nonchalantly “been here longer than any o’ them as well. Dad said it was here even before he moved to town”

“so…” Hanzo says awkward “your father gave you a bar.”

“yea, well I more or less inherited it when he couldn’t take care of it any more” Jesse says “more a money pit then an actual bar, love it though wouldn’t give it up for the world.”

“and fee drinks.” Hanzo adds with a slight smile

“naw, that would be a bad example to the staff!” Jesse says defensively, putting his hand to his chest in mock offence “I pay like everyone else… good bingeing deterrent. So, how’s yer pa’ doing, haven’t seen him on TV recently, though I haven’t been looking”

“he, he died, ten years ago” Hanzo says “he had a massive heart attack, doctors said that it was due to stress”

“oh… sorry” Jesse mumbles “just thought since you were here n’ all. Figured that you couldn’t do that running the Shimada empire”

“I understand, and it is fine. Shimada was bought out from underneath me a few years back. we were able to keep it quiet, but I am not part of it anymore.”

“shit, I- shit sorry I didn’t mean- shit coming to the US ain’t exactly cheap” Jesse sputters.

 Hanzo chuckles slightly and waves his hand to dismiss Jesse while saying “it is alright, I did not expect you to know. I am fine financially; my father left me with quite the sum and I still have stocks in the company, just not enough to be on the board anymore. I actually find it reliving, not living in my father’s shadow anymore, not having to worry about the thousands of people working underneath me, and it gives me the chance to return here.”

At the last word Hanzo slides his hand across the table to touch Jesse’s hand. Jesse’s heart jumps as he feels Hanzo’s hands; the smooth knuckles, the slight calluses on his fingertips and the tan line on his left ring finger. Jesse shifts as his mind races and asks, “so are ya seeing anyone?”

“no, not anymore” Hanzo says “what about yourself”

“naw, too busy” Jesse says, “between the bar, working construction and dad, don’t have time for anything else”

“you have two jobs?” Hanzo asks

“yea, the bar don’t pay enough, fer all of my bills” Jesse says and takes his hands away “need the extra all the money from the bar just to run it, sometimes have to dip into my paycheck to pay the staff.”

Hanzo narrows his eyes taking in the information “I am surprised to hear you have the time to see me then.”

Jesse chuckles slightly “I take every other Tuesday off to see my dad, figured seeing you could override that plan”

“I did not mean to intrude on your plans” Hanzo apologizes.

“naw, I see him so often one day shouldn’t do be a problem. Heck I talked to him this morning and he said that it was fine!”

“well I am glad to hear this” Hanzo says “but truly, I do not wish to impede”

“Han’… I’ll always have time to see you” Jesse says looking at Hanzo with a devilish grin, before cracking up saying “man that was cheesy”

Hanzo laughs slightly saying “that really was,”

“so, don’t tell me that I'm the only reason you came back to the states” Jesse asks.

“no, I received a letter from Genji. He said he wanted to see me” Hanzo explains

“Genji how’s he doing? Gosh, I haven’t seen him in a few weeks.”

“you have seen him since I left?”

“yea… saw him, what three years after you left? Said that he decided to live in the us after he graduated.”

Hanzo just looked at Jesse not knowing what to say besides “he is doing well, we had dinner together last night”

“glad to hear it!” Jesse almost shouts pushing his nerves away with it. The two sat for a moment both sipping their drinks when Jesse finally works up the nerve “look Hanzo, I'm not meaning to be rude, or anything by it, but what were you expecting from seeing me? I'm fine with just being friends, or fuck buddies or whatever, I ain’t exactly boyfriend materiel any more n’ we left at a weird place. I need to know what you want with me, I’ve been burned before and I’d rather leave this where it is, if all you want is a quick fuck and leave me high and dry again.”

Hanzo sputters for a moment trying to find his words “I never wanted to leave you. And I do not want to do it now. I would completely understand if you would like to keep this at a platonic level. But I was hoping that we could possibly start where we left off, and I do know that is impossible, we both have changed so much, I-“

Without thinking Jesse jumps forward cutting off Hanzo with a kiss. It was like the first time rushed and awkward, but instead of lack of knowing wat to do it was because of the spilled coffee and tea. Luckily it was lukewarm now but it still spilled over the both of them. someone at a nearby table started clapping and hollering at the mess they made, making the both of them flush more.

“m’ sorry Han’” Jesse says while pulling out handfuls of napkins from the dispenser on the table. “that was so dumb of me…”

“yes, it was…” Hanzo deadpans “but I liked it”

Jesse smiles as he wipes off his clothes. “my apartment isn’t too far away, we can get cleaned up there”

“that sounds wonderful” Hanzo says blushing.

 


	4. Hotel California

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse and Hanzo spend some time alone, and talk. They both learn some things and both learn that they want the same thing.

Jesse mutters an apology as he and Hanzo enter his apartment; the apartment is littered and dirty with dishes and clothes laying on the floor any which way. the first room as they enter is a small combined living space and kitchen with just enough room for a sofa and a small dusty TV, the kitchen has the normal adornments, with the microwave being the only object seeming to get any use. A single draped window at the end of the living space lights up the room with the cold light of the rainy day.

 Directly in front of the entrance is hallway witch Jesse leads Hanzo down. the hall is just as messy and dark as the rest of the apartment with the only light source being a half-burnt-out light fixture on the ceiling. there are Two doors, one on each side of the hall and both of are closed. Jesse opens the one on the right showing that it is a simple, cramped, bathroom with a leaking sink and mildew kissed shower curtain.

 The door on the left is Jesse’s bedroom, and Hanzo only gets a moments glance as Jesse runs in to grab some clothes. It looks like the rest of the apartment with little lighting and filled to the brim with mess.

As Hanzo waits for Jesse to come back out he takes in his surroundings a little more. He finds little more than what he saw at first glance, only seeing the framed movie posters and a few miscellanies pictures of him with friends. As Hanzo was looking at one of the movie posters he felt something bump agents his leg.

Hanzo looks down to see a small calico cat, with a white face and a brown and black splotched body. It looked at Hanzo curiously and gave a small meow and chirp, as if to say “hello, I am here”.  Hanzo could not help but lean down and pick the small cat up, she was obviously just a juvenile being so small and lean, but seemed healthy as Hanzo pet her. She purred happily as Hanzo ran his fingers through her silken fur.

“I see ya found a friend there,” Jesse says standing in the doorway of his room. The cat gave a happy chirp when she saw Jesse but did not stop her purring “Her name’s Anny, she’s probably just suckering ya for some food with those sweet eyes… found her in the bed of my truck about a month ago, don’t know how she got there, but can’t say I'm mad.”

Hanzo chuckles slightly as the cat seems to hear the word food directed toward her pushing away from Hanzo’s body. He sets her down and she meows expectantly at Jesse.

“Anny, as in Oakley?” Hanzo asks Jesse just chuckles and nods slightly face burning red. They both seem to remember why they are there at the same moment as Jesse shoves his armful of clothes into Hanzo’s chest.

“ya can change in the bathroom if ya want. I mean-” Jesse stumbles over his words. Hanzo just chucks and nods taking the clothes and heads to the bathroom.  In the bathroom, Hanzo saw that the towels are missed-matched and the shower rug is little more than a rag on the ground, (the more Hanzo thinks about it, the more likely it is). He looks at himself in the small medicine cabinet mirror, at the large coffee stain across the front of his shirt. quickly changing out of the sticky mess of shirt, tea, coffee and sugar, and into the shirt Jesse gave him. It was a simple white t-shirt with some band that Hanzo did not recognize on the front of it. It was much too large for Hanzo but when he thought about it was probably too small for Jesse.

As Hanzo gave himself one last glance in the mirror something caught his eye. Something shiny on the top of the medicine cabinet.  letting his curiosity get the better of him; He had to stand on his toes to reach whatever it was.

 Hanzo frowned deeply as he looked at the half-empty bottle of bourbon, and the images that it brought to mind. His thoughts were stopped when Hanzo caught movement out of the corner of his eye. A small white paw batted through the crack at the bottom of the door along with a few harsh meows. Hanzo quickly put the bottle back where he found it and finished cleaning himself up.

            When he walked out Anny sprinted away and into the living area. Hanzo fallowed behind croesus to look at the rest of the small apartment. Hanzo saw Jesse standing in the kitchen and smiled slightly. Jesse was digging through his fridge, obviously looking for something, and singing under his breath to a song on the radio. Hanzo did not recognize the song but found it nice enough, the tune was lonely, almost melancholy, but the words sounded happy.

            “ya familiar with the Eagles?” Jesse asked while turning around. Hanzo shook his head. he looked at what Jesse had in his arms and found that Jesse was holding a rather odd assortment of food.

“they were big shit back in the early seventies.” Jesse continued while pulling out a pan from under the sink. “there are whole collage classes dedicated to this song alone. Almost took one when I was picking out classes”

“I would not think you would like anything besides Jonny Cash” Hanzo laughed slightly.

“not that ain’t fair!” Jesse laughs “I may be more the just the cowboy you make me out to be! N’ A great song is a great song, no matter what genre. here’s the best part”

Hanzo quieted and listened to the song.

‘Last thing I remember, I was

Running for the door

I had to find the passage back to the place I was before

'Relax' said the night man,

'We are programmed to receive.

You can check out any time you like,

But you can never leave!'

Hanzo furrowed his brow at the words, they were strange, and he agreed that this song could have a class around it.  The guar solo afterward was just as strange and beautiful as the rest of the song before it. As the song faded out and a news broadcast came in Hanzo watched Jesse cook.

“why didn’t  you take the class?” Hanzo asked, Sombra’s words echoing in his mind. Jesse shrugged and continued cutting up an onion and some peppers.

“don’ know figured it was kind of frivolous to spend money on a class like that” Jesse said not bothering to turn around as he talked “plus, didn’t end up going to college, by the end of it. Pa needed my help starting up the bar then, n’ by the time we were moved in; figured it was too late to start.”

Hanzo furrowed his brow at the words, not knowing what to make of this information. They sat in comfortable silence as Jesse cocked. Hanzo did not recognize many of the songs that played, Jesse commented on a few of them, making remarks about different artist and bands, how they played and their techniques.

After a few more songs Jesse walks over with two plates, both with omelets and toast sitting on them.  the omelets were perfect light and fluffy and filled with roasted peppers and onions.

“not exactly a five-star meal,” Jesse says shrugging “wasn’t expecting to have company tonight.”

“well, this is more than I could do.” Hanzo confesses “I do not know the first thing about the kitchen, beside the best way to kill a man with each part of it”

Jesse sat unblinking at Hanzo, who kept a straight face as the words left his mouth. Until Hanzo lets out a snort and starts laughing hard. Jesse joins him after his astonishment breaks.

“you really had me going there Han’” Jesse says through his giggles “Jesus, haven’t laughed like that in a while.”

As their laughter dies down Jesse’s phone rings. He absentmindedly takes the call and Hanzo quiets some.

“yes, this is McCree,” Jesse says pinching the bridge of this nose. As the person on the other line talks, Jesse stands and walks to the hallway to get some privacy. Though, nowhere in the small apartment was far enough for complete privacy.

“hay pa’” Jesse says “i-I know that I missed coming over today… we talked about this I’m seeing someone today… yes, well no, lets put that at a maybe okay...”

Jesse paused for a longer moment this time, and listened intently “yes I know, the nurse told me… I understand pa, but you need to do what the doctors tell you to do… look you can’t keep acting out like this...”

Jesse lets out a long sigh as Hanzo poke at his half-eaten eggs. He felt like he was intruding on something deeply personal, but he couldn’t exactly walk away from it.

“okay, okay,” Jesse says almost desperately “if I come over, will you listen to the nurses... okay, I'm going to hold you to that.”

As Jesse walks back out into the main room he forces a smile. He starts grabbing his keys, and coat.

“sorry Han’” Jesse says “gotta run”

Hanzo start to stand to get his things when Jesse interrupts “do you need a ride back to your place?”

“no, it is not too far from here, and I do not wish to impede.” Hanzo says.

“okay, if it ain’t too far…” Jesse says with (for lack of a better term) a slight whine “let me at least walk you out”

Hanzo excepts and they walk together to the small parking lot that’s attached to the apartment building.  The rain had died down, it was still drizzling but not nearly as hard as it was an hour ago. The sun was nearly set, even though it was only a little past six. The roads were shiny well-lit with streetlights, but the majority of the buildings along the streets were already closed. the only stores that are open, are a. restaurant, an ice cream shop of course Talon.

“so,” Jesse says, “do you want to do this again?”

“I would like that very much, Jesse.” Hanzo says with a smile “here, let me give you my phone number.”

After Hanzo punched in his number the two stood there for a moment not knowing what to do. Jesse reached out slightly, and Hanzo met him halfway. they interlaced their fingers and Jesse brushed a stray hair out of Hanzo’s face.

“may I kiss you?” Jesse says little above a whisper.

“I would like that very much” Hanzo says back.

 

 


	5. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse misses his shift and Hanzo goes to investigate.

Hanzo awoke to the sound of his phone ringing. He did not recognize the number so he just let it ring through, if it is important they can leave a message. He stayed in bed for a long moment just letting his mind wander. He had that nice, warm, feeling of waking up and not having anything to do that day, just relax maybe stop by talon later but nothing on the schedule.

As Hanzo finally stirred from his rest he heard the sound of drizzling rain on the window, another lovely fall day in the Midwest. He wonders out of the room and into a living area. The apartment he is staying at, Genji’s apartment, is beautiful with a large kitchen, two bedrooms, a big bathroom and an overall quaintness, and simplicity that seemed to be the opposite of the brother he once knew.  Not in a bad way, he just had matured a lot since they last saw each other; and living with this monk did not seem to hurt as well.

As Hanzo walked out to the kitchen the smell of breakfast meats and earthy tea. Zenyatta was over at the stove humming to the radio, and Genji sat at the island cutting fruit slices, making small talk. Hanzo was finally feeling somewhat comfortable around the two. Zenyatta was nice enough, he was letting him stay at his home at such short notice, but Hanzo found himself uneasy around him. Genji, he was nearly unrecognizable from when Hanzo saw him last.

 Well, not completely. It was Genji he saw that day in the wheelchair at the end of the semester wrapped in bandages. The woman that took him away was his caregiver at the time, and Genji still talked to her on regular basis. Apparently, she thought he only spoke Japanese at the time, so she did not ask him much about his past. They still laugh about it today.

Genji still had the scars from whatever happened, he did not like talking about them even now, he said that he did not like revisiting the past. The most prominent of them is a large line that runs down his face from just above his right eyebrow to his chin on the other side. But that was not the worst of it. The Genji Hanzo once knew who was a runner, and all-around athlete is now bound to a set of crutches. On his worse days, he had to use a wheelchair and even now after years living with a monk he still looked so angry when he had to. It was because, of what Hanzo could put together, combined trauma to his legs and back along with a horrible infection that eight at his nerves when he received the injuries.

Today must have been a bad day; Genji was sitting in his chair at the island his brow furrowed. His hands shook as he slowly peeleded an orange. Hanzo didn’t ask about the shaking, truthfully, he did not want to know, he had enough guilt surrounding this whole situation. he did not want another level added on. In the back of his mind, he knew that it was still his fault. no matter how much Genji said he forgave him, no matter how much Zenyatta said that he needed to let go of these feelings, it was still his fault.

“ohayo,” Hanzo says as he enters the kitchen, Zenyatta hums a welcome and Genji gives a slight grunt “do you two have anything going on today?”

“just working,” Zenyatta says in his sing-song voice “we have a rare book trader coming in today, he has an eye on one of our shambali texts. He said that he has some documents we might be interested in as well.”  
“probably just help around the shop,” Genji says with a shrug “might go see Angelia today, don’no. what about yourself bro”

Hanzo shrugs as he talks “might go out to the mall, see if anyone is hiring. or maybe go to the courthouse see how far they are with my worker’s visa. But I do not have any specific plans for today”

Genji looked like he was going to say something but was cut off by the sound of Hanzo’s phone going off. Hanzo grumbled and looked at the number, the same one from before; he sighs and caves, hoping to get whoever this was off of his back.

“Hello this is Shimada Hanzo, who might this be?” Hanzo says into his phone hoping to hear whoever is on the other line say that they have the wrong number.  But the voice on the other line did not say this, it was a familiar female voice with a thick Mexican accident.

“Bastardo!” the voice nearly shouts from the other side “what did you do to my brother.”

“excuse me?” Hanzo nearly stumbles over his words “I do not know what you are talking about.”

“Jesse hasn’t come into work today you idiot,” Sombra says “he hasn’t called, or texted or anything!”

“look last night we did not stay together long, something came up and he had to leave. I do not know where he went after we walked out.”

There was a pause on the other side then Sombra says “look we’re swamped, I know you went over to his apartment last night, could you go check on him for me?”

Hanzo did not know why she wanted him to go check on Jesse. he was a grown adult after all, but the earnestness in her voice made him think she was not telling him something. Then a thought came to his head “how did you get this number? How did you know I went to his apartment last night?”

There was a slight scoff on the other line the Sombra answered: “Jesse didn’t tell me if that’s what you're worried about, he’s actually pretty tight-lipped about his love life.”

“yes but-” Hanzo says wanting to question further

“look that’s not important right now; will you or will you not go check on Jesse for me?”

“alright, I can go check on him for you,” Hanzo says with a sigh “I will have him call you as soon as I get there”

“good, and do it fast, I know where to find you” with this the line goes dead and Hanzo is left just standing in the middle of the room mentally going over what to do next. He has to smile about the thinly-veiled threat, but the question still stood of how she knew these things. He turns to Genji and says, “I guess I have something to do today after all”

if was a twenty-minute walk to Jesse’s house and the day was nice, slightly chilly, but nice overall. Almost all of the leaves had fallen off of the trees during yesterday’s storm. So the shop owners were out cleaning them off of their awnings, it was pretty busy out with the shop owners cleaning and people out to shop even though it was only Thursday.  Hanzo glanced at Talon across the street, and Sombra wasn’t lying it was packed, there were even people lined up out the door waiting to get in. it was strange enough to have such a crowd during the afternoon or during the week, let alone both at the same time. what could Jesse do to lessen the load, it looked like they needed ten more people not one.

“I guess every little bit counts.” Hanzo mumbles to himself

He saw Jesse’s truck in the parking lot next to the building and there was no sign of him in it. As well as no sign of Jesse outside of the apartment building. Hanzo walked over to the panel and pressed the buzzer for room 413. It was a good four minutes until he speaker crackled to life.

“hello?” Jesse’s voice broke through the half-dead speaker

“hello Jesse, it is Hanzo,” Hanzo says hoping that the mike on the panel was at least a little bit better than the speakers.

“hay Han’” Jesse’s says cheerily “did ya forget something last night?”

“no, no, I just need to talk to you. And you did not pick up your phone”

“okay, just give me a sec’ to buzz you in.”

And if on cue the door buzzed and Hanzo walled in.  he walked up to Jesse’s apartment and knocked. he heard rustling on the other side of the door as if Jesse was hastily cleaning, along with some indecipherable muttering. After a minute or two the door opened, Jesse stood there looking disheveled and wilily at the same time. he gave Hanzo a half-hearted smile.

“so, sorry about the phone, broke it last night.” Jesse says, “so what do you need to talk about?”

“your sister called me this morning” Hanzo started “and said that she needs your help at the bar. She sent me to come and get you”

It takes a moment for Jesse to proses the information he was just handed when he finally come to he says “shit… I- I can’t come in today. Can you tell her that I have some things going on?”

“I have her number if you want you can call her with my phone.” Hanzo says hoping that he won’t need to give Sombra the bad news.

“yea that sounds fare.” Jesse says.

“why don’t we go into your apartment so we are no longer obstructing the hallway?” Hanzo asks while digging out his phone.

“no, we can stay out here,” Jesse says nervously; Hanzo just gives him a questioning look and wants to press but Jesse was already calling Sombra.

“hola,” Jesse says into the recover, Hanzo can vaguely hear the sound of Sombra on the other line yelling at him. Jesse spoke in Spanish as he talked to Sombra, obviously not wanting whatever he was talking about getting to more ears then it needs to be. even with the language barrier Jesse spoke in a slightly hushed tone. Hanzo just stood there aquardly waiting for Jesse to finish. he could hear Anny on the other side of the door, her claws scraping the wood. At this point he just wanted to go in and hold the cat but Jesse was standing in front of the door and it was only held open by the deadbolt catching on the frame.

After a few minutes Jesse sighed and hung up he pinched the bridge of his nose obviously frustrated with whatever situation he was in.  Hanzo reached out and brushed Jesse’s face with his hand hoping to help relive whatever was hurting him so much.

“can I help?” Hanzo asks earnestly “I do want to help in some way”

“unless you can go and cover my shift, ya can’t do much” Jesse sighs.

“I mean I am without work currently,” Hanzo says “if that might help in some way I could do it.”

“naw, I couldn’t ask you to do that” Jesse says, “I just got to figure it out myself somehow”

“Jesse, I want to help. Let me, if you want whatever this is to work between us, let me help.”

Jesse sighs as Hanzo gestures between them, hoping to get his point across. Jesse looks at Hanzo and gives him a small kiss on the cheek.

“yer too good for me,” Jesse says, he runs his hands through his hair nervously “okay, okay, just understand I’m doing this because I have nothing else to do”

Hanzo gave Jesse a questioning look but stood his ground.  Jesse ran his hand though his hair again and sighed. He opened the door to his apartment gesturing in. Hanzo enters not knowing what exactly is going on, but he found himself trusting Jesse more than he has any other person in a long time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaayyyyyyy, a chapter that didn't take a month and a half to come out!!  
> as always thanks for the kudos and comments, they mean the world to me!!!


	6. The Anthem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse shows Hanzo what is behind his door (literally), and they have a talk about feelings and stuff.

Jesse’s apartment was slightly neater the day before. it wasn’t _clean_ by any stretch of the imagination, but neater. Mostly, things were cleaned off the floor and some of the dishes were put away. It's strange going into the same unfamiliar space two days in a row, it gives it a sense of uncanny that places usually do not hold.  The room was quiet overall as Hanzo entered. It smelled of burnt toast and vaguely of cleaning chemicals. The small, old, TV in the corner was playing some cartoon Hanzo didn’t recognize, and the volume was all the way down; giving the whole room a pleasant glow, and moving glow.

Anny sat on the kitchen table body tense and on high alert. she only turned her ear slightly as Hanzo and Jesse came in, but did not give them much attention for some time.  Once she did notice Hanzo, she did scatter out of the room and into Jesse’s bedroom.

 Jesse made a b-line for the couch crouching in front of it and talked quietly. There was someone sitting on the couch they didn’t seem to notice Jesse as he talked to them.  Hanzo stepped forward to see this person, but Jesse gestured for him to stop. The person on the couch looked down at Jesse then and mumbled something in Spanish, witch Hanzo did not recognize at all. Jesse just smiled and nodded. then went to the kitchen and poured a glass of water. Instead of walking over to the person he came to Hanzo and handed him the glass.

“give this to him,” Jesse says quietly. he starts to lead Hanzo over to the couch but stops for a moment to say “n’ don’t make any sudden movements.”

Hanzo nodded and walked the rest of the way over to the couch; glass of water in hand. There was a strange tension in the air. A combination of anxiety and a sense. With an almost tangible amount of questions in the air, but the inability to ask any of them.

 He walked around the couch and saw the person there. It was detective Reyes, at least it looked like a shell of his former self. The once well-defined well-chiseled man now has gaunt Cheeks, his skin looks like it has not seen any sun for years, and his are eyes distant. He looked like a living skeleton as he sat on the couch. He didn’t seem to notice Hanzo as he walked up to him, he just stared into the distance. Jesse walked up to him and squatted down so that he was at eye level, he gestured for Hanzo to come over.

“hay Papi,” Jesse says, in almost a whisper “this is Hanzo, do ya’ remember him?”

“Hello Mr. Reyes” Hanzo starts, as he tries to hand the glass of water to Reyes “it is good to see you again.”

Reyes did not look up at Hanzo, he just kept staring at the cartoon on the screen. After a minute and some gentle pressure from Jesse, Reyes blinked a couple of times and looked at Hanzo. he didn’t say anything but reached out for the glass in Hanzo’s hand. Hanzo gave it to him and Reyes took a couple of sips from it. then gently places it on the floor, with a slight ting of the glass. then reverting to his previous, almost catatonic state. Jesse sighed and said something under his breath before stepping back into the hallway that leads to his room. Hanzo followed behind.

“so, this is my big secret.” Jesse says running his hands through his hair, then gesturing to the other room “and why I can’t go to work today.”

Hanzo nods and can’t help but ask “why can you not have someone come over to take care of him?”

“he needs special care,” Jesse says, “twenty-four-hour nurse would be best for him, but they're expensive, n’ the ones I could afford, don’t stay for long.”

Hanzo looks back at Reyes, at his vacant stare, and asks “do you not have anyone that can help you?”

Jesse lets out a half-scoff and says “Naw, before all this happened, Gabe did some shit and no one wants to be a part of his life now because of it. Charged with some bull but then court dropped it. Still ruined every relationship he had”

“but he still had you.” Hanzo says hopefully

“no, I was too busy being a shit kid to see him” Jesse hissed, “I also hated him too for taking that bribe.”

“but, you said he wasn’t charged.”

“doesn’t mean he didn’t do it.” As Jesse says this he looks back in the room with a bitter look on his face “look, he’s my dad, n’ when thing started going downhill fer him, I was the only one that gave a shit. I’m the only one that gives a shit now.”

“Maybe I can help,” Hanzo asks

“I can’t ask you to do that” Jesse sighs “look, I understand that we're starting something here, but I’ve been dealing with this for years without any help. I’ve figured it out before I can figure this out now.”

Hanzo is about to retort before Jesse interrupts him “look if ya really want to help, go to talon and help out there, or buy a beer or something. I need to keep an eye on Gabe, the nurses nearly O.D’ him last night n’ I need to make sure that he doesn’t get hurt today. Need to call Angela too, get some information about some stuff.”

            Hanzo nodded in understanding. the thought of that Angela being the same one as the one that treated Genji passes through his mind, but he did not act on that thought. Instead, he takes out his phone and thinks for a moment on what to do. He felt so helpless in this situation, he knew what he could do but not how to say it, or if it would be overstepping what little relationship the two had.

            “I will go to your bar” Hanzo states in a voice probably a little too loud for the situation “and I will finish off any sake that you possess, pulling you out of any of your debt through my binge drinking”

            Hanzo said this statement with a firm and flat voice. Jesse just looked at him with slight concern but cracked as soon as Hanzo did. They both chuckled for a minute letting the stress of the situation lessen for just a moment. Jesse leans into Hanzo and just rests his head on the other’s shoulder. Hanzo runs his fingers through Jesse’s hair as Jesse embraces him. In any other situation, Hanzo would have seen this act as cliché but right now, feeling the wetness of Jesse’s tears sink into his shoulder. Hanzo started humming lightly. the tune was from a lullaby that one of the nurses sang to him when he was young and weak. It held a special place in his heart and he hoped that some of the comfort that he received when she sang to him would come to Jesse. He couldn’t help but let a wave of guilt wash over him, ‘should haves’ and ‘would haves’ racing through his mind

            After some time, Jesse finally straightened himself and pulled slightly from Hanzo’s grip. He looks away, somewhat ashamed and desperately wipes at his eyes like a toddler. Hanzo sighs slightly; getting Jesse’s attention and asks, “do you want me to stay?”

            “naw,” Jesse says then chuckles “you need to go and clear out my stash of sake, don’t you remember.”

            Hanzo smiles slightly and nods. The two walk back to the front door and Jesse opens to for Hanzo. Who instead of walking out stands on his toes and gives Jesse a peck on the cheek. Jesse just smiles and kisses Hanzo gently on the lips.

            “I am here for you,” Hanzo says “you do know that.”

            “yea I know that Han’” Jesse returns.

            With this Hanzo nods and heads out the door, a plan in his mind but not knowing how to make it happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyyyy, another chapter that took a long-ass time to come out. and I hate it but it's better than anything else I could have done for this chapter. sooo, I guess this is a compromise between actually putting out a chapter and having to wait another month and a half. hopefully, in a chapter or two, I will get out of this area that I'm kind of stuck in, and into the stuff, I want to write (famous last words) so look forward to that.  
> thanks so so much for sticking with me through this rollercoaster of a fanfiction (mostly for me trying to find time/energy to write this), and thank you so, SO much for kudos-ing, commenting, and bookmarking this work. I know I say it every time but it realy means the world to me.


	7. Above and Below

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse gets a visitor, and a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: cleaned it up and cut some fat.

Jesse stood in the middle his living room, just watching the woman walk through it. A permeant soul across her face. She was pretty in a sense, probably a little older than Jesse and on the plumper side. She had the essence Jesse stood in the middle his living room, just watching the woman walk through it. A permeant soul across her face. She was pretty in a sense, probably a little older than Jesse and on the plumper side. She had the essence to form that screamed ‘mother figure’. The small amount of time that he had spent with this woman Jesse found her to be nice, but no-nonsense at the same time.

 It had been a little over a month since he told Hanzo about his situation, and he thought things were bad then. It was Just like in movies when the protagonist says, ‘well it can’t get any worse’ then it starts to storm on them. for Jesse, it can’t get any worse moment was when he found that the last place he could afford kicked his dad out. Now, the storm overhead is that someone had called social services on him; apparently reporting some sort of elder abuse. On top of that, he lost his job with the construction company for missing too many days without a ‘proper’ excuse.

So here he is now, living on a shoe-string budget (even more than before) and the possibility of felony endangerment or abuse hanging over his head. He was trying his hardest in every way to provide for himself and his father, but everything seemed to be crashing down around him. That first call he received was terrifying. It was Ana letting him know what was going to happen. She told him that this warning was a little less than legal, but he was more than thankful when she told him. He was able to clean up some more and find a temporary place for Anny to stay while the social workers came to inspect his place

Gabe sat at his usual place on the couch. he was even less lucid today than usual, but it was kind of a relief at the same time. he was in one of his ‘distant’ moods today; less chance for trouble that way. the social worker took Gabe aside and talked to him, even did a physical. She had a hard time getting him to cooperate, but she locked Jesse out of his own apartment. so, he couldn’t help at all or calm his father down while she worked. he hated hearing them struggle with him, but there was nothing he could do except try to ignore the struggle in his home.

so, you have a cat?” the woman asks, snapping Jesse out of his stupor. She was squatting and pushing a piece of litter around with the tip of her pen. Jesse stammered for a moment, and the woman looks up at him before slightly snapping “lying will do no good for you in this situation Mr. McCree”

“yes Ma’am. I do, had her before dad moved in” Jesse says finally finding his words. The woman hums slightly and writes something down on her clipboard. She stands with one graceful movement and steps to Jesse and continues “now, I need to interview you. may we step into another room. I find it easier to do it this way.”

Jesse’s heart sinks, but he nods and leads the woman into the bedroom. The bedroom was very different from how it was just a month ago. The walls were stripped of posters and pictures, everything that could be broken was moved out. So, the only things in the room was an old double bed and a second-hand dresser that weighed about a hundred pounds. There was some medical equipment in the room as well, things that he had to hook Gabe up each night. Most of them he understood but some of them Angela just thought him how to place them and didn’t explain further.

Jesse leads the woman to the bed and sat on it with her. she flipped through a few pages on her clipboard before settling on a page then scratching something on it. She looked up to Jesse and asks the first question.

“so, Mr. McCree,” she starts

“please call me Jesse” Jesse interrupts, the woman purses her lips before Jesse adds “or McCree if ya like”

“McCree, how long have you been the care giver of Mr. Reyes.”

“he’s been living with me fer about a month now. But I’ve been taking care of him fer, don't know, three- four years?”

The woman scribbles something down “what do you mean by that?”

 “He’s been in and out of nursing homes and care facilities fer a while now,” Jesse says visibly uncomfortable “he’s been kicked out of all o’ the ones I can afford”

 “kicked out?”

 “he gets violent,” Jesse says “ya see he ex-military, black ops actually. N’ sometimes he thinks he’s back there, fighting. n’ even though he’s weaker than he was then, he’s still strong and he knows how to kill people.”

 “has he?” the woman asks Jesse looks at her questionably “killed anyone?”

 “no, thank god” Jesse almost gasps “I mean he did when he was in the military, n’ when he was in the force. But not since way before he retired.”

 The woman nods and flips a few pages through her clipboard and asks “okay, on to more about you. You have a different last name then your father, so what is your relationship with him?”

“I’m sure you have all of my past in your files,” Jesse says bringing up his defenses “all you need to know about me is already in government files”

 The woman pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. She looks up at Jesse and makes eye contact and says with an earnestness to her voice that she has not had in it before “McCree, this visit is as much for you as it is for your father. I know I can look your files up, but sometimes there are things in those files better learned from those who have lived them. then just reading them.  No matter what you may be thinking, I am not trying to separate you and your father. that isn’t my job. I am just here to assess the situation. Now, I will ask you again, what is your relationship with Mr. Reyes?”

Jesse takes in what the woman says, and slumps slightly in defeat “Gabe is my adopted father. I was the child of a drug lord and a prostitute, n’ he saved me then adopted me. Okay? Then shit hit the fan with him and I was the only one that was willing to take care of him after.”

The woman nods and asks “are you his only child? Did he have any partners while you were young?”

Jesse was just about to ready his defenses again, why did she need to know this? But he pushed his them aside, as much as he could muster, in front of this almost-stranger and continues “I have a sister, she’s adopted too but they weren’t on talking terms when this started, so she isn’t willing to help all that much. He had a partner fer a while when I was very young, don’t even remember them dating or anything. All I know is that hate each other now and I haven’t talked to the guy in five years.”

 “do you have a help network in any way?” the woman asks, then adds “friends, a partner anything else that?”

 “why do you need to know this?” Jesse says not with anger but with true suspect. The woman returns saying again “this is just as much about you as your father. I need to know that you're in a place you can take care of yourself and have the ability to take care of others”

 Jesse sighs and thinks for a moment, thankfully the woman gives him his time “well you know about my sis. she lives in town, works at the bar I own, but she runs it now that I need to take care of pa’. Donno I have a friend that is living in Arizona right now, she’s in the air force. Her mom helps me from time to time but she’s retired now and doesn’t have enough to sustain me as well as herself. Not that I would ever ask her to do that.”

 “Okay, is that all?” the woman asks “just those three people? And they do not have any recourses to help you during this time?”

Jesse nods and gives a slight hum. The woman writes something else on her clipboard and stands up. she takes the marked page and hands it to Jesse.

 “here are some recourses I would like you to look into.” She says, “I need to speak with my superiors about the situation, and we will get back to you in two weeks or so.”

 “so, you aren’t taking him away?” Jesse asks while leading the woman to the front door. She sighs and gives a slight, forced, smile “like I said, it is not up to me to decide. I see you are in a difficult situation and I want to help as much as I can. Just… give those numbers a call as soon as you can, all of these services are free, or very discounted for people in your situation. if you need some more specific information about the recourses or need some help and don’t know who to ask; don’t hesitate to call me.”

 Jesse nods and opens the door for the woman and bids her farewell. After the woman is out of eyeshot, He scans over the paper she gave him. The majority of the places are food pantries and charities for clothes.

 _Damn, I'm not that poor_  Jesse thinks as he reads over some of the other numbers and places. one of them catches his eye just because of the lack of information, it’s just an address, date and time as well as a note saying, ‘just give it a try’. He pulls out his phone and plugs in the address finding it was just a community center about three blocks from his house. The date and time was for tomorrow and there was an arrow that pointed from this

The website was for in-home care, hospice, and respite. All of which were run from volunteer efforts and pay-what-you-can nursing.  Jesse lit up when he read the page, even with the discouragement of using the daily service. The thought that he could actually leave his apartment for something, changed a lot. His mind immediately went to Hanzo and that they haven’t spent any time together since this whole fiasco started. doubt also washed through Jesse’s mind; would Hanzo even want to talk to him now? He probably moved on not wanting to be connected to this whole situation.

Jesse looked at his phone and at Hanzo’s number but pushed the thought aside of going on a date. Instead, he called the services to come and watch Gabe for two hours the next day. He had to wrangle the operator for some time letting them know he hasn’t been out of the house for more than a smoke break for over a month. and somehow, he was able to get someone to come over the next day. The operator lets him know that it was someone new and inexperienced but Jesse didn’t really care at this point, he just needed to get out of his cramped apartment, and a drink.


	8. IMPORTANT UPDATE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is an important update please read

Update: okay I’m sorry that this work hasn’t been updated for a while, and currently I'm not loving the work as a whole. I am going to redo Not your future and hopefully like it better because of this. I’m sorry about that but working on this has become a chore. I will leave this up as an orphaned work but I won’t be updating NYF until I redo the first few chapters of it and make a new story out of it. Again, I am sorry about this I just don’t like where I am in this and I kind of wrote myself into a wall and can’t get to where I want to get with where I’m at currently.

Thank you to everyone for reading Not Your Future and all of the Not Yours universe. Also, I have a quick question since I am redoing this part of the story. I may just clean up the whole set of stories and post them as one coherent thing rewritten with what I have learned since I started.

I made a straw poll if you want to help me decide either way. so yea, thanks again for reading my story and I’m sorry I'm stopping it here, but hopefully after restarting I will be able to make something I'm proud of rather than a chore that I hate working on. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's the straw poll   
> http://www.strawpoll.me/14826921


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